"Suga Shack" - Sara's 55 gallon - (56K)

[sewingalot]

Hello everyone! First of all, let me tell you how great it was to find this forum. You each have personally inspired me to try my hand at a planted tank. I know I am making plenty of mistakes, but I am learning a lot from this site.

I used to be all about plastic until I stumbled onto this site.


Then I decided to try Java Moss. However, I didn't know it was all dead until I started looking on this site a few months ago! What's sad is the LFS sold it to me like this. After nearly giving up with embarrassment, I decided to try again.


I am now trying a new method. I started buying still live plants (elsewhere) using Flourite substrate, Excel, DIY Co2 and 130 watts of light. These are my results.




Any suggestions? Thanks for all the inspiration!

[dewalltheway]

You are on the right track! You remind me of myself at the beginning of this year starting my 55 gallon. If you read alot of threads on here and ask alot of questions, you will learn alot in a short period of time. the one suggestion I would make is to get some ferts to sart dosing with. Your plants will need the micros & macros or they will soon start to get holes in the leaves and look ratty. Look at the sticky I believe under water parameters about dosing. very helpful!

Nice start! Also, Welcome to PT

[helgymatt]

Looking good so far! One question....Is that a filter intake I see with no screen?

[sewingalot]

Originally Posted by dewalltheway

You are on the right track! You remind me of myself at the beginning of this year starting my 55 gallon. If you read alot of threads on here and ask alot of questions, you will learn alot in a short period of time. the one suggestion I would make is to get some ferts to sart dosing with. Your plants will need the micros & macros or they will soon start to get holes in the leaves and look ratty. Look at the sticky I believe under water parameters about dosing. very helpful!

Nice start! Also, Welcome to PT

Thank you for the nice words of encouragement. That explains the hole starting in the tip of one the amazon sword leaves. Thanks for the information on the fertilizers. I need to determine whether or not to use Flourish products or do the dry dosing. I am a little intimidated about overdosing, so I was thinking I should start out with the Flourish line. What do you suggest?

[sewingalot]

Originally Posted by helgymatt

Looking good so far! One question....Is that a filter intake I see with no screen?

Actually, I recently bought the Eheim Eco 2234 and it came without the intake pipe! I attached the filter screen to the hose and feed it through rigid tubing to keep it in the water until Eheim sends me the part. You caught me....

[dewalltheway]

As far as overdosing, if you do the EI (Estimative Index) method of dosing, you will not overdose. If you do a search for "EI" you will get tons of info on it. The basic concept is you dose the ferts listed in the chart per your tank size and every week you do a 50% water change and this will level or start fresh your tank for another week of dosing without the worry of overdosing or doing a bunch of testing. I do this and it works out great!

If you want to save money, go with the dry ferts. The flourish products are good but will burn a hole in your pocket compared to the amount of dry you can get and how far it will go. The only flourish product I am using is Flourish but I only dose 5ml of this 3X a week so it last me awhile. If I can be of any other help, let me know.

[sewingalot]

Thanks for the information on EI. I am looking on the forum now and there is tons of posts. I will give it a try. After all, I am now hooked.

[sewingalot]

I braved the inital expense and decided to buy nutrients. I tried the EI method the first week. However, after losing two otos to the massive water change, I decided to try the PPS method found on this board. I like this method and so far, the growth is amazing. In fact, my amazon sword sent out a runner and a tiny plant is growing! I am still trying to learn how to take better pictures so please be patient.

The swap and shop is awesome! Daud sent me a bunch of new plants in excellent condition! I couldn't believe the quantity and quality compared to my LFS! What do you all think so far? Thanks for looking!

[sewingalot]

Update on my tank after using fertilizers. I am using the PPS-Pro method. I should have shut the lid...and cleaned the glass.



I have pearling!










My cories love to dig up the giant baby tears. I am starting to hate it! I find pieces of it floating in all my plants. I also am not crazy about the amazon sword, but the ottos love it. Comments/criticism are welcome as always.

[Saraja87]

Lovely progress!

[dewalltheway]

Great progress Sara. The tank looks fantastic! The plants look very healthy and the sword looks wonderful. The one suggestion I would make is to try and hide some of your equipment if you can. This allows your eye to focus more on the plants then on the equipment.

Great beginning!

[sewingalot]

Thanks for the comments! I looked at the main picture and you are right, the equipment is very distracting. I just received my inline heater in the mail yesterday and I plan to install it this weekend. I just cannot figure out where to install the powerhead since it is hooked up to my co2. We'll see how it goes.

[cah925]

Wow, that's a big difference from the first pic to the latest pic. The plants look great from the ferts and CO2. I think you are on the right track with everything.

[sewingalot]

I took dewalltheway's advice and hid some of the equipment. I am still having trouble hiding the powerhead, but I am planning on doing a diy inline reactor soon, so I am just going to be patient. I also got in some downoi from the S&S...love this site! I moved the ludwigia repens to my betta's ten gallon and planted a few more stems of ludwigia arcuata. My moss wall is starting to finally grow in after I moved it behind the amazon sword. I am battling green spot algae. I think dosing fertilizers seems to help, since it is not as bad. Anyway, enough talking - the updated pictures (which are still over exposed with the flash off).





My cories keep digging up the downoi along with the marsilea minuta. Well, at least their having fun.


My amazon babies are growing, I am not sure how or when to remove them.


What do you all think of the changes?

[dewalltheway]

Looks much better and once you get your DIY reactor made and take out the powerhead, it will really allow the eye to focus on your beautiful plants.

Good job!